POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.pov4.discussion.general : Aspect Ratio Handling : Aspect Ratio Handling Server Time
20 May 2024 04:20:58 EDT (-0400)
  Aspect Ratio Handling  
From: Greg Kennedy
Date: 24 Jul 2023 00:50:00
Message: <web.64be0248be2530f65f52366d3f6a0c2d@news.povray.org>
The default POV-Ray camera setting for "right" is a 4:3 ratio, designed to match
the default 4:3 output (for 4:3 screens) leading to a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio.

A common stumbling block for new users is attempting to render a 16:9 image,
which leads to non-square pixels and the output appearing horizontally
stretched.  This means a search in the manual until you discover the magic words
"right x*ImageWidth/ImageHeight" to produce the desired aspect ratio.

The rationale for 4:3 default in the manual FAQ section is pretty thin these
days, as people are not rendering Windows XP startup screens any more, and it
seems FAR more likely that users will want a 1:1 PAR by default (which they can
change if needed for special cases).

I suggest for 4.0, that the default for camera Right be automatically set to the
same ratio as the requested image output ratio, which means 16:9 resolutions
will work "out of the box", and that users wanting an anamorphic ratio should
instead tweak Right themselves (overriding the default).


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